Miner&#39;s lamp.



- lm/$14M n. BEGKER. MINBR'S LAMP.

APPLIOATIOH TILED APR. 15, 1911.

1,019,748, Patented Mar. 12, 191 2.

' supported from the body of the workman,

tgil front elevation of the supporting plate and reflector of the lamp, the lens being removed. Fig. 4 is a view in rear elevation of the same parts, the supporting member be.

ing partly broken away. Fig. 5 is a central" may :encxnn, or summons,

'mnmn's LAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mai. 12, 1912.

Application filed April 15, 1911. Serial No. 621,220.

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY Brown, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Baltimore, State of Maryland, have invent- 5 ed certain new and useful Improvements in -Miners Lamps, of which the'following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in miners lamps, and has for its primary object to provide a simle, economical, and eflicient incandescent ight which may be used by miners and like workmen in lieu of the ordinary oil lamps now generally employed.

provide a miners lamp of the above type with means for firmly supporting the same on the cap of the workman, and which may be readily removed therefrom as occasion may-re uire.

A-sti further object of the present in vention is to provide an incandescent electric li ht adapted for the purpose above de- .scribe furnished from a storage battery suitably with the storage battery reduced in size so as to be in no wise inconvenient for the workman to car while remaining of a capacity fully's cient' to furnish current a required length of time.

The invention consists of'the novel construction, combination, and-arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and then particularly claimed and in" describing the invention in detail, referonce is had to the accompanying drawings 3 forming a part of this application wherem like numerals of reference will be employed ferent views, in w ich:

the manner in'which my improved miner s lamp is supported from the cap withthe battery supported from the belt-of the workmans clot es. Fig. '2 is an enlarged detail view of a miners cap with the lamp applied thereto, the current wires being disconnec from the battery, the flexible flap carried the cap be' ''-in section. Fig. 3 isa de- A further object of the invention is to,

and in which the current supply isto designate like arts throughout the difvertical sectional view through the carrying case for the battery, the latter being shown in side elevation. therein. Fig. 6 is an enlargedr detail sectional view of the lamp, the insulating support therefor and showing the su porting member in side elevation, and, Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view of the lamp showing a modified form of construction for mounting the lamp onthe insulating support, and further. illustrating diagrammatically the circuit from the battery to the lamp. 4 y

I am aware that heretofore and before my invention, various devices embodyin an incandies cent. lamp have been devise to be supported upon the cap or head of aperson, but such devices have .not been adaptable for use as a miners lamp. By experiment I have found,that astorage battery of comv readily re-charged when exhausted. An-.'

other objection to the use of such devices for the purpose stated has been that they required a special construction of cap or were expensive in construction which pro hibited their use for the urpose stated. My

device can be attach to the ordinary miners cap such as is used for carrying the usual oil lamp, and the small weight of the battery renders it easily supported from a I convenient point on the body of the wearer. An embodlment of my evice is shown in the accompanyin drawings wherein- 10 indicates the miners cap to which the.

lamp per se is attached. Miners caps are generally rovided on the front thereof with a piece 0 ton h' flexible material 11, such as leather, flex ble fiber or the like, which ted is adapted to have the lamp supported therefrom, generally by ahook on the lamp which enters an opening provided therefor in the said piece of material 11. Such caps are also generally provided with a vizor 12. In so far therefore as the cap herein illustrated is concerned, it is intended to be of the type generally worn by miners, and my improved lamp is attachedto such can without any alteration of the cap being required with the exception that it may be provided with a loop 13 at the rear or other desirable point through which the current wires are passed to prevent the same dropping down along the side of the wearers head. The lamp per se involves a supporting plate 14 generally made of fiber, though any other suitable insulation will of course answer the same purpose. Thissupporting plate has its lower edge 15 formedto fit with the upper face ofthe vizor 12, and commercially the devices are furnished to fit the vizor of the cap it is desired to place the lamp upon, that is, if the cap has a peaked vizor, the

lower edge of the plate 15 is curved to fit,

with such vizor and if the vizor of the cap be straight, a lamp is furnished with a supporting plate having a straight lower edge.

This supporting plate on its rear edge carries a securing member for engagement with the leather-piece 11 as shown in Fig. 2, and with the member engaged with the leather piece 11 and the lower edge of the supporting plate 14 resting firmly on thevizor 12 it will be observed that the lamp is rigidly supported and prevented from any rocking movement on the cap. This securing member I prefer to construct as herein shown, wherein the device embodies a sub- --stantially inverted U-shaped member, the

outer arm 16 of which constitutes a hook, and the-inner arm 16 of which lies against the inner face of the insulating supporting plate 14 and is firmlysecured to said plate as by a bolt or screw 17 The top bar 17 which connects arm 16 to arm 16' carries a binding post 17 forone of the leading in wires 18, and this binding post alsoacts to secure a pressure clip 18 in position in line with the arm 16 but spaced a slight dis 'tance therefrom, the purpose of which is to bind the supporting flap 11 of the cap between said clip and the arm 16 and thus more securely fasten the lamp in position.

In order that the arm .16 may be readily 1 inserted in the opening in the flap 11, said arm is extended beyond the lower end of the clip 18 as best seen in Fig. 6, and the clip is positioned with respectto the arm 16 as'als'o best seen in said figure, being spaced from the arm a gradually decreasing distance from the lower end upward, so-that when the arm or hook 16 is fully inserted, the flap 11 will be bound between the arm 16 and clip 18? at or near theupper end of the latter, andthe lamp securely prevented from accidentally dropping off the cap.

The securing bolt or screw 17 may act as the contact member for engagement with the plug 19 of the incandescent lamp 20 7 when the lamp is in position in the socket 21 of the reflector 22, but I" prefer to mount on said bolt or screw a spring contact 23 so I 4 i as to insure at all times when the lamp is in position, a

positive-contact with the plug of the lamp. I

The reflector in the preferred form of construction, (Figs. 1 to 6). is formed integral with a threaded ring 24 of a depth suflicient to space the lamp and reflector the necessary distance from the insulation plate 14. As shown in this construction, the spacing portion 24 of this ring is unthreaded and is formed at its ends with an annular flange 25 through which a plurality of bolts or screws 26 are passed into the insulation plate '14, and one of which bolts or screws may be utilized as a binding post for the other leading in Wire 18 In lieu of employing a ring of the depth shown in Fig. 6, I may form a flange 25 at the end of a short threaded ring 24 in Fig. and employ a spacing ring as 24 (Fig. 7) which generally I have formed of insulation as shown, though this is not esto the lamp, the plate 14 and arm 16 being omitted from' the view. The lens 27 in either construction is preferably secured in position by a threaded ring 28 which screws onto' the threaded ring 24 (or 24) and has an inturned flange 29 for holding the lens in position in front of the reflector 22.

A portion of the wires leading from the battery to the lamp is adapted to be carried by the cap, and'the remainder of the wires is adapted to be carried by the battery. The portion of the wires carried by the cap has heretofore been designated as 18 and 18, these leading intothe plug 32 of an ordinary connector, whichplug is adapted to be engaged withthe socket member 33 of such connector, the portion 13 of the wires leading from the socket member 33 to'the storage battery 34. This storage battery 34 I have in practice mounted in a suitable casing 35, generally made of a flexible material as tough canvas or leather, and embodying a pocket portion of a size to receive the storage battery and having a flap 36 which is closed over the top of the battery and con.- nected to the case as bya button 37 or other suitable fastening device. I generally provide this carrying casewith a lining 38 as of paraflin or the like in order to provide, a

. damp-proof case, the case being provided on its rear side with loops 39 through which the trouser belt 40 of the wearer is passed.

The storage battery being mounted in a case of flexible material and the battery being of comparatively small size, in practice not weighing to'exceed a pound-or a pound and a half, it will be noted that the same will be in no wise inconvenient to carry, and

should the miner desire at any time to remove his cap, the circuit is still maintained so long as the members of the connector are not disconnected, and similarly when it is desired to extinguish the lamp, the operator can readily reach the connector for breakin' the circuit at that point.

@bviously, when the members of the connector are detached, the portion 18 of the current wires can be tucked under the belt of the wearer,-and thus the operator be permitted to conserve the energy of the battery when not in the mines.

I wish to call particular attention to the manner in which the device may be readily attached to the ordinary miners cap as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, being firmly supported thereon so that if desired the lamp may be renewed without necessitating the detaching of the lamp from the cap, yet the lamp can be readily detached from the cap at any time that may be desired, and I also desire to call attention to the feature of utilizing a storage battery in connection with a lamp for the purpose described.

It will be noted by reference to Fig. 2 that the plate 14 hangs at a slight incline to the vertical, and thus properly positions the lamp for projecting the rays of light in the required direction. When the lamp is placed in osition, the plate 14 resting on the vizor of the cap prevents any lateral swinging of the lamp on its support, such as is experienced with oil lamp hung by hook from the flap 11.

While I have herein shown and described in detail preferable embodiments of the invention as the same has been practiced by me, yet I do not wish to be understood as confining myself to the specific construction shown and described, as various slight changes may be made therein Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invent-ion as claimed.

What I claim is:

1. In an'incandescent lamp for miners in circuit with said reflector, a lamp mounted in and extending through said reflector and engaging with said contact and in circuit with said reflector, a binding post carried by the plate and in circuit with said supporting means, a binding post attached to and in circuit with said connecting means, and wires connected one to one of said binding posts and the other to the other of said binding posts and adapted to communicate with a source of electrical energy.

2. In an incandescent lamp for the head gear of miners comprising an insulating supporting plate adapted to be arranged at the front of the headgear, resilient means secured to the rear of the plate for detachably connecting the plate to the headgear, a reflector forwardly of said plate, supportin means for the reflector attached to said plate and in circuit with said reflector, a lamp detachably connected to the reflector, and circuit forming means connected to said resilient means and to said plate and engaging said supporting means and adapted to communicate with a source of electrical energy carried by the miner.

3. In an incandescent lamp for miners use comprising the combination with a cap formed with a supporting flap, of an insulating supporting plate,,means carried by the rear of said plate and engaging with said flap for connecting the plate to the cap, a reflector, supporting means for the reflector attached to said plate and in circuit with said reflector, a contact projecting from said plate and in circuit with said connecting means, a lamp mounted in and extending through said reflector and engagin with said contact and in circuit with said reflector, and circuit forming wires electrically connected to said connectin means and with said supporting means an adapted to communicate with a source of electrical energy carried by the miner.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY BECKER.

Witnesses:

ALLAN HERBERT FISHER, HENRY KORNMANN. 

